Post 9/11, and especially with the dramatic rise of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the author advocates a collective right to security. Plotting a course through state absolutism and liberalism one ‘finds’ communitarianism as a philosophy to support this right to security. The author’s ‘communitarian’, right to security is based on an interpretation of European human rights law, particularly ‘positive’ duties of the state, to protect the rights to life of individuals from violations by non-state actors such as suspected terrorists. But for reasons of practical enforcement limitations to the exercise of the right are also articulated.